


long shots and second chances

by fagsymbiote



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Everything Hurts, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, i have a lot of feelings about jacobi and how he and minkowski might interact after everything, it's set after maxwell dies so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-07 04:39:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16401470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fagsymbiote/pseuds/fagsymbiote
Summary: Maybe losing Alana was the hardest thing that Daniel had ever had to live through. Maybe he had no idea how to cope with that. Maybe he wanted her back more than he'd ever wanted something before.Maybe revenge was only half the reason he staged a coup.





	long shots and second chances

**Author's Note:**

> jacobi makes me feel,, a lot of things so here you go

“Fuck it,” Daniel muttered. “If we're doing the bad guy thing again, might as well do this while we're at it, right?”

He’d given Minkowski ten minutes to think. A guy could get a lot done in ten minutes if he had enough determination and the ability to override any locks on the Hephaestus. And he just so happened to have both until Hera came back online.

So he went down to the lab, their new makeshift morgue. Wasn't like Hilbert needed it anymore, Daniel made damn sure of that. Hera kept it near freezing now so the body--singular, there wasn't enough left of Hilbert to do anything more with than sweep up the mess, and Lovelace had the privilege of being able to walk off a bullet to the brain--didn't rot and stink up the place before Minkowski decided what she wanted to do with it. Everything was up to Minkowski now, even what happened to his best friend’s corpse. 

Not anymore. She couldn't have _that_ anymore. 

He rolled Alana's body onto one of the wheeled tables, ignoring the bile that rose in his throat. Everything about this was wrong. Alana wasn't supposed to die before him. She was _alive_ , she was so fucking full of life it infuriated him sometimes.

And now she was just...gone. Really, actually gone. She'd never laugh again, never smile at him again, he'd never get to hear her go on for hours about some new tech she was working on. He'd never have Alana by his side again.

Maybe he could get a copy though, a brand new Alana Maxwell who never had to know she wasn't really Alana.

He grabbed a pencil and a pad of paper, set them down next to her, then he wheeled the table out of the lab, towards the airlock closest to the star.

Revenge was only half the motivation for his little mutiny. There was also this. He wanted her back more than he'd ever wanted anything, more than he thought he _could_ ever want anything. 

He jammed his thumb into the button in front of him. “Open inside door,” he said, and his voice barely shook. 

The inside door of the airlock opened. He wheeled Alana in. He grabbed the pencil, scribbled down everything he needed to say on it, then tucked it into her suit securely enough he was confident it would stay. 

He kissed the top of her head before he left, pointedly not looking at the hole in her face. He finally got to say his goodbye. 

“Close inside door.” 

He looked at her through the door. “Open outside door.”

The door opened. Alana was gone. 

“Close outside door.” His voice shook. 

Minkowski got more than ten minutes to think.

\--

They were going home. They were really, actually going home after all this time. 

Renée went to the observation deck to take a breather, just relax for a few minutes, and found Jacobi there, staring out into space through the large window on the Urania’s observation deck. They hadn’t been alone together once since they’d been on the Urania. She was pretty sure he’d made sure of that on purpose.

She took a few steps closer.

“Jacobi?”

They hadn't spoken more than a few words to each other since they'd been there. He flinched when she said his name, but he looked up at her.

“What?”

And if she wasn't worried before, she was after that. His voice was too flat, and he sounded _exhausted_. She sat down next to him.

“I--we never got a chance to talk after, uh--after the whole rebellion thing,” she said, unsure what to even call it. Rebellion didn't feel right, but neither did anything else. 

“What's there to talk about? Unless you want to lock me up again,” he said, crossing his arms. 

“No Jacobi, nobody's locking you up.” She sighed. “What happened to her body?”

Jacobi froze. “What?”

“Her body. It wasn't in the lab anymore after. I didn't bring it up earlier because there were bigger issues, but a missing body is something we need to talk about, Jacobi.” 

She tried to sound firm. She failed miserably. She had a feeling she knew what happened, and she just hoped to God she wasn't right. She didn't think she'd be able to stand the guilt about being the one to cause this. 

He let his head fall forwards, and Renée would be lying if she said it didn’t make her chest ache. “What do you think I did, Commander? My best friend was dead and I just found out we had some aliens right outside our window who made unkillable copies of people. I took a chance. That's where she went.”

His voice was shaking. She'd never heard his voice shake like that before.

“Jacobi, I--”

“You're sorry? You feel just _awful_? You're _guilty_? Frankly, Commander, I don't care. I didn't ask you to apologize. You asked what happened, I told you. That’s it.”

He turned towards the window again, and Renée could swear she could see him trembling. 

“I don't blame you for doing it,” she said. “I--if it was my husband or Eiffel or even you at this point, Jacobi, I’d definitely at least think about it. I'm sorry it didn't work.”

He shrugged. “She would've hated it. She’d rather stay dead.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

They sat in silence after that. She wondered if he was still hoping, waiting for Maxwell to knock on the hull, to laugh and tell them to let her on the ship. She watched Jacobi watch the stars around them, and she said nothing. 

\--

_I don't know if you guys can make copies of someone who's already dead. Hell, I don't even know if you can read English._

_The way I figure it though, this is my best shot._

_This is Alana Maxwell. She might be the best human out there. She's definitely the best one I've ever met._

_Someone killed her though, and I miss her a hell of a lot. She didn't deserve it. If you could work your magic and make a new Alana, that would be great._

_Help me help you help me and all that. You give me my best friend back, and you get another one of your guys to keep an eye on us._

_Just please, if it's even a little bit possible, bring her back. She deserves another shot._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry folks but there will be no closure for jacobi today


End file.
